Neglected road

It took only six months to demolish and replace the Grand Boulevard Bridge over Interstate 670 — impressive. It was a high priority, as it should have been, because it was dangerous and near the Sprint Center.

Abandoned and dangerous buildings and houses are being torn down as part of a city program raising the priority. It was long overdue.

What’s obviously not high priority is Blue River Road, a beautiful drive in the southeast part of town. It’s impossible to drive the entire route because it’s been closed south of Bannister Road to Red Bridge Road for at least a couple of years. The road has deteriorated and is sliding down the embankment toward the river, making it dangerous.

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Don’t assume

I am a deplorable white male without a college degree and a lifelong resident of the benighted Middle West.

No, I did not vote for Donald J. Trump.

Self-styled liberals seek to impose the tyranny of political correctness but are also free to indulge in blatant stereotypes.

Donald Hoffmann

Kansas City

Smart guns

According to a recent New York Times editorial, 532 suicides of youths younger than 18 and 74 unintended fatal shootings of young people occurred in 2014.

How many of these young people would be alive today if the guns they used had been equipped with technology that blocks anyone but the owner? We will never know, but their families have this grief at Christmas.

Smart technology using fingerprint scanners or radio-frequency chips is available. Until the public insists that these features be incorporated into gun production, we will continue to have this public health issue.

Although most Americans agree on background checks for gun purchases, we need to advocate for protecting the young by calling on gun manufacturers to install state-of-the-art technology.

Another benefit would be less gun thievery. Why steal a gun you cannot use?

Mary Fran Zeller

Overland Park

Kind strangers

Around lunchtime one day last month, I was digging for my wallet to pay for a few items at the store. A woman touched my shoulder and said, “I am paying for your groceries.”

I was caught by surprise, and all I could say was, “Are we on TV? Is this what I have been reading about?”

I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. After a few hugs and thank-yous, she put something in my hand. After putting the groceries in the car and catching my breath, I opened my hand. There I found $25.

What an angel. I plan on doing the same for someone else.

Don Page

Kansas City, Kan.

This past Veterans Day started as another normal Friday, with grocery shopping at the Cosentino’s Price Chopper at 95th Street and Mission Road.

After the clerk checked me out, I was ready to write my check for $72. The clerk said, “Sir, your groceries have already been paid for.”

She pointed to a lady in the next checkout line and told me she had taken care of it.

I went over and said, “You don’t have to pay for my groceries.”

She answered, “Of course I do. You helped to keep America safe. It’s the least I can do.”

My answer was, “I spent my service in Alaska and was never in combat.”

She replied, “You still gave up your lifestyle to do your duty.”

I only know this nice lady only by her first name — Jen.

It made tears come to my eyes.

Don Evans

Overland Park

Unity needed

What is going on with the racial divide in our country?

We are all brothers and sisters from another mother.

I had an American history teacher say it best, with her hands and fingers interlocked: We are the United States.

Deborah Nguyen

Independence

Just the facts

I am continually amused at Trump supporters who constantly cry and whine about media bias against their guy.

Oh, mercy. They obviously have no idea what a journalist’s job is. It’s to report the facts.

But Trump voters evidently do not like facts. Nope, they call it “biased” when the reporter tells us about the wart on his face.

They don’t like that. Instead, they want the reporter to focus on and describe the halo they perceive on his head.

But see, the wart is real — that’s a fact —whereas the halo is only a figment of their twisted imaginations.

When journalists see a wall covered in grime, it’s their job to inform you about it.

It is not their job to whitewash it for you.

Just the facts, ma’am.

Charles Hutto

Kansas City

Nothing new

Our problems here in the United States are the same ones we had 400 years ago in the old country.

The leaders then controlled their clans. Soldiers stole all our livestock so we couldn’t pay our taxes. All of us who weren’t killed defending our property were put in the dungeon.

Then we came to America, and it’s the same deal. Lawmakers in their clan are still fleecing the majority of the people.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did try to change things so that all God’s people could live as one.

But he got killed trying to help us live in an honest world.

I don’t guess it makes any difference who is in charge. Lawmakers always seem to rule over their clans.

If this letter offends you, you’re part of problem. I can’t help it.

It’s up to all United States citizens to fix it.

Which crook did you vote for? I didn’t vote in this election, for the first time in 55 years.

William Leroy Elwood

Osceola, Mo.

Bad trade

Dayton Moore looked stricken at the news conference to announce the Wade Davis trade to the Chicago Cubs (12-8, 3B, “KC trades Davis for young outfielder”).

As well he should. He just traded the one superstar the Royals had for a journeyman outfielder.

This was strictly a economic move on the part of David Glass, the Royals’ owner.

Glass is telling loyal Royals fans he doesn’t want to spend the money to put a winning team on the field.

We Kansas Citians deserve better than David Glass.

Thomas J. Hogan

Kansas City

Don’t divide

A recent letter writer points out that President-elect Donald Trump received multiple deferments, one of them medical, from the military draft.

It should also be noted that Vice President Joe Biden received student deferments from the draft.

Does this make any difference in their ability to do the jobs they were elected to do?

I think not. It’s just another attempt to smear Mr. Trump any way the left can.

Please support our new president and stop with the divisive rhetoric.

America will be a better place.

Bob Berry

Oak Grove

Voted freedom

Why did rural Americans vote for Donald Trump? It was not racism or lack of education, the Democrats’ automatic default accusations.

We enjoy and want freedom. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Our federal Constitution and our capitalist economy — not socialism or globalization — has provided and will provide us with that freedom.

We rural people like to choose our own light bulbs, toilets, cars, schools, bathrooms, locker rooms and even our own mates.

We are greatly concerned about the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court, the strength of our military, our foreign policy, the future of Israel, taxes, the economy, our energy policy, health care and, yes, equal treatment under the law.

In short, the Constitution of the United States, acknowledging the importance of both the individual states and the people, with a capitalist economic system, has provided and will continue to provide the best system for our country.

Vincent U. Muirhead

Lawrence

Huge success

The only beneficial thing President-elect Donald Trump has yet to take credit for is the daily sunrise.